The European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled this week that the French courts did not discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation, when it declared a ‘marriage’ between a same-sex couple to be invalid.It also ruled that if a state does not recognise same-sex ‘marriage’, this does not constitute “discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation”.The Chapin and Charpentier v. France case involved a same sex couple, Mr Chapin and Mr Charpentier, who submitted a marriage application to the civil registry department of Bègles municipal council, in May 2004. At the time, same-sex ‘marriage’ was not permitted in France.